Scottish Pig and Poultry Keepers on Guard

Scottish pig and poultry keepers will remain on
alert as the threat posed by devastating diseases remains.

For
poultry keepers, restrictions have been lifted around the East Yorkshire
unit that suffered a recent outbreak of Avian
Influenza. However,
there continue to be further breakdowns within Europe, the most recent
incidents being in Italy and a further case in Germany. The route
of infection still remains unclear but is believed to be from indirect
contact with wild birds.

For pig producers, a worrying development is that a virus that has
had a devastating impact in the United States and has spread to Canada,
has recently been identified in the Ukraine. While Europe has its
own less virulent strain of the Porcine
Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv), the American/Asian is extremely infectious and has wiped
out more than a tenth of the pig population in the USA in the past
two years, causing up to 100 percent mortality in piglets on infected
pig farms.

Scottish and GB stakeholders have put their weight behind
pig breeding companies adhering to a voluntary import ban that would
exclude live pigs arriving here from any PEDv-hit country.

NFU
Scotland’s Animal Health and Welfare Policy Manager Penny Johnston
said:
“The details of the latest European farms infected with Avian Influenza are,
as yet, unclear but certainly the first farms affected were all indoor facilities
leading to the conclusion that infection is most likely to be via indirect contact
through human activities, such as movement of vehicles and equipment.

“There are no direct migration routes from Asia to Europe but the
virus has probably been transmitted to other birds at stopover places
passing it into the European wild bird population. In the light of
the probability that the virus is entering farms through human activities,
keepers are advised to take a critical look at their biosecurity
arrangements and practice and make improvements as necessary.

“The
threat posed to the health of Scottish and UK pig herds by PEDv is substantial
and infection would be a devastating blow to the sector.

“To preserve
the health of our herds from this deadly virus, a voluntary import ban
to exclude live pigs from the USA and Canada was already an agreed priority
from industry on both sides of the border. The news from the Ukraine
is a worrying development, and the live pig ban requires to be revised
and extended.

“The success of any approach in combatting PEDv will be
determined by the weakest link in our defences. Robust action and an
all island approach has the best chance of keeping us free of this dreadful
virus. Were it to arrive, then Canada’s response shows us that speed
is everything in disease control and in reducing the health, welfare
and economic impact of a virus like PEDv. Prompt reporting or diagnosis
must trigger an immediate response to shut down the disease.

“The industry
has a role in highlighting the risk on grower units; the need to take
episodes of profuse scour seriously and to test for PEDv. Clearly high
piglet mortalities on breeding farms must press immediate alarm bells.”